Ping Lu’s research while affiliated with Tianjin Eye Hospital and other places

Gastric cancer is highly lethal due to late-stage diagnosis and resistance to standard treatments like radiotherapy. Enhancing radiosensitivity in gastric cancer cells could improve treatment outcomes. Withaferin A (WA), a bioactive compound from Withania somnifera, has anticancer effects and can modulate cellular processes like autophagy and mitochondrial function. This study investigates WA’s role in enhancing radiosensitivity by targeting apoptosis, autophagy, and mitochondrial function in SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells. In both in vitro and in vivo models, combined WA and radiation (IR) treatment significantly inhibited tumor growth, as evidenced by reduced tumor size in xenografts. Mechanistically, this combination promoted apoptosis, with increased levels of cleaved caspase-3 and PARP, indicating enhanced cell death. WA altered autophagic dynamics by activating autophagy and blocking autophagic flux, shown by LC3II accumulation and SQSTM1/p62 buildup. Moreover, the combined treatment disrupted mitochondrial function, leading to decreased ATP production, reduced respiratory capacity, and increased proton leakage, which contributed to cellular stress. These findings suggest that WA may serve as a radiosensitizer to enhance radiotherapy efficacy in gastric cancer, highlighting its therapeutic potential and advocating for further exploration of phytocompounds in cancer treatment. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-05008-x.

Organic light‐emitting materials with multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) have shown great potential for realizing highly efficient narrowband organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, the heavy efficiency roll‐off caused by the slow reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) process remains a challenging issue for the further practical application of MR‐TADF materials. Here, we develop two TADF emitters, BNDBT and BNDBF, in which the dibenzothiophene and dibenzofuran substituents are attached at the bottom of the B/N frameworks. They all exhibit the similar high photoluminescence quantum yields of 90 % and 87 %. The sulfur‐containing material BNDBT exhibits a RISC rate (kRISC) of 6.02×10⁴ s⁻¹, which is three‐folded higher than BNDBF (2.09×10⁴ s⁻¹) without heavy atom. The corresponding green OLED based on BNDBT exhibits an improved external quantum efficiency of 35.5 % and lower efficiency roll‐offs at high brightnesses of 100 cd m⁻² and 1000 cd m⁻², respectively. In addition, the BNDBT‐based OLED maintains high color purity without causing a sharp increase in FWHM as compared with that of BNDBF. This work indicates that introducing the heavy atom at the bottom of the B/N skeleton is an effective strategy to enhance kRISC while maintaining narrow FWHM, thereby achieving high‐performance MR‐TADF emitters.

Two novel TADF emitters are obtained by combining acridine donor and AP acceptor to minimize non-radiative decay. Deep-red OLEDs are achieved with EQE over 14%, offering a promising strategy for efficient deep-red OLEDs.

Cronobacter sakazakii is a foodborne pathogen linked to severe infections in infants and often associated with contaminated powdered infant formula. The RecA protein, a key player in DNA repair and recombination, also influences bacterial resilience and virulence. This study investigated the impact of recA deletion on the pathogenicity and environmental stress tolerance of C. sakazakii BAA-894. A recA knockout mutant displayed impaired growth, desiccation tolerance, and biofilm formation. In a rat model, the mutant demonstrated significantly reduced virulence evidenced by higher host survival rates and lower bacterial loads in blood and tissues compared to the wild-type strain. Proteomic analysis revealed extensive disruptions in protein expression, particularly downregulation of carbohydrate metabolism and respiration-related proteins, alongside increased protein deamidation and oxidation. Functional assays identified fructose-bisphosphate aldolase as a target of oxidative and deamidative damage, resulting in reduced enzymatic activity and glycolytic disruption. These findings highlight the critical role of RecA in maintaining protein homeostasis, environmental resilience, and pathogenicity in C. sakazakii, providing valuable insights for developing targeted interventions against this pathogen. IMPORTANCE Cronobacter sakazakii poses significant risks due to its ability to persist in low-moisture environments and cause severe neonatal infections. This study identifies RecA as a key factor in environmental resilience and virulence, making it a promising target for mitigating infections and contamination. Inhibiting RecA function could sensitize C. sakazakii to stress during production and sterilization processes, reducing its persistence in powdered infant formula. Future research on RecA-specific inhibitors may lead to innovative strategies for enhancing food safety and preventing infections caused by this pathogen.

High‐efficiency multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) emitters with narrowband emission show great potential for organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, their inherent planar rigid structures often lead to intractable challenges of spectral broadening, self‐quenching, and low device efficiency at high dopant concentrations. Herein, two steric isomers, BN‐1TPh and BN‐2TPh, are designed by incorporating bulky shielding unit (1,3,5‐triphenylbenzene) at the para‐position of the B atom in the MR skeleton to hinder intermolecular interactions. They both show enhanced photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) as compared with the model compound BCzBN. The corresponding OLEDs based on BN‐1TPh and BN‐2TPh display the maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) values of up to 30.8% and 30.4% with narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM) bands of 27 and 28 nm, respectively. It is worth noting that even at the high doping ratio of 20%, the EQEs are still maintained 24.8% and 25.7% with almost unchanged emission spectra. These results show that segregating the planar MR‐TADF skeleton with spatial shielding structure can weaken the intermolecular interaction, which is one of the effective ways to resist the aggregation‐caused quenching effect and achieve high‐efficiency concentration‐indispensible MR‐TADF OLEDs.

Multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) molecules have experienced great success in organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) owing to their outstanding quantum efficiencies and narrow full width at half‐maximums (FWHMs). However, the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) rates of MR‐TADF emitters are usually small, which will lead to relatively long triplet exciton lifetime and severe efficiency roll‐off. Here, we report an effective molecular design strategy to introduce multichannel RISC pathways and thus increase RISC rates without compromising the color fidelity and emission efficiency by the “hybridized long‐short axis (HLSA)” strategy. The TPA‐CN‐BN shows a near‐unity photoluminescence quantum yield, rapid RISC rate of 1.4×10⁵ s⁻¹, narrow FWHM of 23 nm, and small singlet‐triplet energy gap (ΔEST) of 0.06 eV in solution. The non‐sensitized OLED based on TPA‐CN‐BN exhibits a narrowband emission with the FWHM of 31 nm, in company with external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 37.9 %. Notably, the device exhibits the low efficiency roll‐off as the EQEs maintain 34.8 % and 21.8 % at 100 and 1000 cd m⁻², respectively, representing the best performance for single‐host OLEDs based on the BCzBN skeleton. This study provides a fresh and promising approach to realize high‐performance OLEDs with high color purity and remarkable device efficiency.

Multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR‐TADF) molecules have experienced great success in organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) owing to their outstanding quantum efficiencies and narrow full width at half‐maximums (FWHMs). However, the reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) rates of MR‐TADF emitters are usually small, which will lead to relatively long triplet exciton lifetime and severe efficiency roll‐off. Here, we report an effective molecular design strategy to introduce multichannel RISC pathways and thus increase RISC rates without compromising the color fidelity and emission efficiency by the “hybridized long‐short axis (HLSA)” strategy. The TPA‐CN‐BN shows a near‐unity photoluminescence quantum yield, rapid RISC rate of 1.4 × 105 s‐1, narrow FWHM of 23 nm, and small singlet‐triplet energy gap (ΔEST) of 0.06 eV in solution. The non‐sensitized OLED based on TPA‐CN‐BN exhibits a narrowband emission with the FWHM of 31 nm, in company with external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 37.9%. Notably, the device exhibits the low efficiency roll‐off as the EQEs maintain 34.8% and 21.8% at 100 and 1000 cd m‐2, respectively, representing the best performance for single‐host OLEDs based on the BCzBN skeleton. This study provides a fresh and promising approach to realize high‐performance OLEDs with high color purity and remarkable device efficiency.